Category Archives: City Mouse

We’re very excited to announce that The Plurals and City Mouse will be touring together this February to San Diego’s beautiful Awesome Fest and back! We’ve got a couple quick jags through the midwest, a week in California, a dip into Mexico, and a world of shenanigans in store for this tour. Both bands have very fresh new releases on GTG (City Mouse’s Get Right and The Plurals’ Swish) so we’re stoked that they’re hitting the road together this winter. Big thanks to Raeghan the Savage for the tour poster! Check out all of the dates below:

Big thanks to Dylan Tarr and City Pulse for this excellent piece about the 10th anniversary of GTG Records! Follow the link here or read the whole piece below!

A Decade of GTG Records

Local Lansing record label celebrates a productive anniversary year

BY DYLAN TARR

Lansing’s GTG Records put out 16 records this year. That’s over 150 songs and more than 10 hours of music. If you wanted to, you could drive all the way to Tennessee listening to nothing but GTG releases from this year alone. For a record label based out of a house that City Pulse once named “Eyesore of the Week,” that’s a lot of music. And honestly, it’s a lot of music no matter what your headquarters look like.

“This was sort of a special thing,” said GTG co-founder Tommy McCord, also known as Tommy Plural, admitting they don’t usually release a terabyte of music in 12 months. “We decided that since it was the 10th working year of the label we wanted to celebrate it.”

McCord traces the beginnings of GTG Records back to 2007, when he and his bandmates, Hattie Danby and Nicholas Richard, put out the Plural’s first EP.

“We first used it as a way to release our demos and our friends’ demos on CD-Rs,” said McCord. “In 2007 we put out an EP called ‘Professor Nanners,’ and that was the first time we had a professional company manufacture the CDs.”

Since then, with 10 years on the record and over 100 releases, the label has taken on a life of its own, McCord said, describing it as more of a collective of local musicians than a business.

“I knew bands would be putting things out this year and I thought if I reached out to a few more people I could figure out one release a month,” said McCord. “We ended up doubling up in some of those months because there was so much happening.”

If you still have some reservations about a record label run out of a dilapidated house on the east side of Lansing, you shouldn’t. This is exactly where the music you eventually love comes from.

Def Jam started in Rick Rubin’s dorm room while he was a student at NYU. Bruce Pavitt dubbed together compilation tapes for an obscure fanzine that later turned into Sup Pop. It doesn’t matter if bands are recording in a sound proofed studio in L.A. or in a Michigan basement between noon and 11 p.m. to comply with noise regulations; great music is great music.

City Mouse’s “Get Right,” released in November on GTG, sounds like the band Sleater Kinney could have been if they didn’t lose their razor-sharp teeth immediately after their first album. GTG’s first release of 2017, The Hunky Newcomers live album, “Harder Stuff Dude,” sounds like Black Flag in an alternate universe where Greg Ginn actually possesses a sense of humor.

And the Hat Madder’s fourth release on GTG, “Rotting On the Vine,” is a proggy, Mars Volta-like record without any of the step-dad connotations that prog-rock often comes with.

I could go on comparing GTG bands to other famous bands you’ve heard of to convince you that Lansing’s music scene is undeniably important, but I won’t because that’s a job McCord happens to be very good at.

“I’ll be honest, I tour the country for large parts of the year and I see cool bands everywhere,” McCord said. “But I feel like the concentration of cool bands in Lansing is higher than anywhere else, and I really don’t think it’s because I’m a hometown pride person. There are just a lot of cool weird things here.”

And with a surplus of cool, weird things to foster in Lansing, McCord said that GTG as an organization simply becomes whatever it needs to be to do its job.

“It’s like what do you want to do as a band,” McCord said. “If the band’s not going to play shows very much we’ll have a mostly digital release and a small run of CDs to have at the release party.”

Similarly, if a band intends on touring and playing out constantly, GTG puts out vinyl releases too.

“With the Plurals, we noticed on tour that bands who had a 7 inch or a 12 inch seemed like they were always selling them,” McCord said. “I was like, we can get in on this, right?” he laughed.

But pressing vinyl is expensive. While this might dissuade other independent labels, McCord only laughed and said, “no one gets rich off this stuff.” And besides, he said, “Records just look sweet. It’s cool to look at it and just to know your music is on it.”

GTG has evolved with the scene, picking up the slack where Lansing’s shortcomings wear even thinner.

“Around 2009, a lot of local venues closed so we started to do more house shows. All ages spaces and intimate venues for touring bands who might not get a lot of people out at Mac’s Bar are important,” said McCord, referring to the GTG House, the label’s headquarters and inclusive local venue.

GTG does the dirty work, too. That’s right, they book tours, a nightmarish process few bands attempt and even fewer succeed at.

“It’s really hard to make people give a shit about you if they don’t know who you are,” said Isaac Vander Schuur, front man in the Hat Madder and GTG engineer. “There’s definitely a lot that the label can provide as far as making sure your tours get booked and you’re not thrown to the wolves out on the road.”

GTG helped book the Hat Madder’s recent west coast tour, insuring Vander Shuur and his bandmates weren’t driving 2,000 miles just to play to a different empty room each night.

Sure, GTG Records can pack out a venue, make sure you not only survive on tour but thrive, all while manufacturing and distributing your record, but what about all the hopeless losers like me and you who aren’t in a band? What’s GTG doing for us besides eating up all the space on our Zunes?

“My goal is to show people there’s a lot of great music being made out there and that it’s still possible to have fun in America in the Trump Administration,” McCord said.

“It’s really important in times of discontent to have an outlet for expressing your frustrations and opening up communication with more people,” said McCord. “Shows with a positive energy are great ways to meet people and find more allies for your cause.”

And whatever your stance on safe spaces is, I’m sure we can all agree seeing a show without getting punched out or molested by some creep is preferable if not important.

“You get all these people in a room together and everybody just enjoys each other’s company, you can really tell,” said Vander Schuur. “When you play a show in front of a GTG audience you get an inspiring vibe back from them, even if you’re not having your best night. They still have your back front and center, waiting to see what you’re going to do next. That’s why I started playing music in the first place and that’s why I’m still doing it, because I’m a part of this label.”

This is one of our favorite bands and Miski and City Mouse have been a part of the GTG Family for a long time now, but it sure feels good to have it taken care of on paper! We’re so very stoked to have some sort of hand in this great album.

TOMMY PLURALS SAYS:
GTG FEST! That was one of the best weekends of my life. First and foremost my partners in the endeavor – Nicholas Miski Dee Hattie Mae Loren Isaac Michael and Timmy – are the best friends and collaborators I could hope to have. The Avenue Cafe and all of its staff have done a bang up job hosting our fest and this year was no exception. So much love! Weather conspired against The Record Lounge but the little bit of show that we did get to do there was awesome and we’ll figure out a way to make up for it. Thanks to Ryan and Andy for having the gear on call to do the outdoor show that didn’t happen, and Josh and Jeffery for lending some muscle and being down to do whatever random thing we threw out there. Rachel made a great poster and I’m going to miss seeing it all over everything I do. All of our sponsors – Pabst Blue Ribbon, Scene Witch, Schuler Books & Music, Foods For Living, Rubie’s Paradise Salon, McCord’s Farm Market, Bloom Coffee Roasters, Streetkitchen, harrison roadhouse, Grand Traverse Pie Company, Alyson Rose Studio, and MI Blue Owl Coffee – made the weekend that much more special and we’re happy to work with all of you. Mike, Eric, and Isaac are basically the trinity of GTG sound techs so thanks for hanging with all of the bands all weekend. Thanks to Crith, Paul, and Kevin for providing the backline along with Nich and Hattie; this made the ambitious time table possible. Brian was running around recording the whole weekend and I can’t wait to hear what he captured. Shoot… I think that’s everyone but the fest is still a fresh blur so sincerest apologies if I spaced anywhere. But… EVERYONE THAT ATTENDED!! YOU make this all possible and we’re all so humbled by your support. 10 MORE YEARS! 10 MORE YEARS!! #gtgfestx
GTG FEST 2017 LINEUP (by day, headliners in the caps)

The TENTH annual GTG Fest is next weekend in Lansing, MI. It’s wild to think that we’ve been at it this long but, hey, here we are and things are better all the time. There’s two new releases, a band reunion, a farewell show, some great touring bands, and we’ve finally added an open-to-the-public all ages venue. Check out the schedule:

That’s a lot to take in! We’ll be doing the alternating stages at The Avenue again and, weather permitting, The Record Lounge show will be the best and probably last outdoor party of 2017. Get familiar with most of the lineup via the sampler below and stay tuned to the fest facebook event for more updates!

Surprise and thank you, here’s the 100th release from GTG Records. 21 new songs, most of them exclusive and brand new. The Plurals, City Mouse, Honah Lee, Drinking Mercury, Small Parks, Wade from Dreadpool Parker, The Hunky Newcomers, Calliope, Jeremy Porter And The Tucos, Alpha Rabbit, The Stick Arounds, Half Tongue, Stargrazer, Sleeping Timmy, Frank and Earnest, Jason Paul, The Hat Madder, CrookedSound, Tommy Plural, No Skull, AND the debut of Disappointed Dad. Sheesh!! Most of these bands have current or upcoming releases on GTG – and they’re all friends and part of our wider community – and they cover both a wide range of styles and, geographically, most of the US. It’s wild for us to think about how much has happened since 10 years ago when we were just getting into the CD release game with The Plurals and The Break-Ups, something that we celebrated in late 2007 with a mostly-Lansing area compilation CD release called Situations At Hand. It’s amazing that a lot of the people involved in that comp are still present 85(!) releases later on GTG100 but the fact that the family has grown so much is even more amazing. 2007 really was the launch year for GTG Records so as we gear up for the fall releases of 2017 we’re going to be periodically looking back at some highlights of the first 10 years of the label. And you better believe GTG Fest (Oct 12-15!) is going to be the most nuts it’s ever been this year. Good times!

Let the shining rays of brilliance shine! Bermuda Snohawk 2016 has arrived, the GTG/ Bermuda Mohawk annual holiday gift (in its 11th edition!) of wintry-yuletide-seasonal joy and disaffection – a stocking stuffer of love and depravity! Up for free download via BMP, check out new and unreleased tunes from City Mouse, Cavalcade, The Plurals, Frank and Earnest, Scary Women, The Hunky Newcomers, Sleeping Timmy, middleman, Dale J Gordon, Bluffing the Ghosts, and MORE, including the various side projects featuring folks from all over the geographical map and musical (and non-musical) realm. This comp has become something of a Lansing-based DIY institution (for better or worse) and it just sort of comes together by itself at this point, with GTG and BMP just sort of lighting the path a bit. With how 2016 has been as a year, there’s a bit more darkness lurking at the edges of a lot of these tracks, but still plenty to laugh about all the way. Putting this comp together is always a highlight of the year for us, and there can be something very cathartic about just having some fun and making music with abandon. Thanks to everyone who joined in to help make it happen this year, and anyone that didn’t but wants to in the future, come on over! There’s literally no process to curating the lineup than people sending stuff to us so it’s a free-for-all, all-is-welcome party. Enjoy yourselves, and let’s hold ourselves up, together, for the last week of this gut-punching year. Much love from GTG and BMP!